Carl runs a site devoted to helping you rid your computer from all sorts of spyware and malware at http://www.spyzooka.com/
To some of the people that are reading this, it may sound familiar. To others, perhaps not so much. Either way, what follows is a description of what happens when you get infected with the XP Antivirus 2009 or the other programs of its ilk.
So, you’re browsing the internet, minding your own business, when suddenly a window pops up when you hit a page you don’t normally go to. This window tells you that you’ve been infected with viruses, and shows a running tally of how many viruses you’ve been infected with. It also says that to buy the upgrade for your Antivirus program to get rid of these viruses click here.
It would almost seem natural to click on the link and buy the upgrade. That’s when the real fun begins. That will be discussed later. The first thing to notice is why did this window pop up in the first place?
It is a common feature of viruses to let the user know that they’ve been infected. It originally started as a point of arrogance for the creator of the virus. Later, some virus makers decided to start using it to swindle the people they’ve infected out of money. That was the phase where “SpySheriff” and its clones were the predominant viruses. Now, the criminal programmers have taken this a step further, and decided to make it look like a Windows program. It should be known that no version of Windows ever had a feature that let the user know that they were infected with a virus.
The second thing to notice at this point is the file names and locations that are being called “viruses.” More often than not, they are just temporary files or cookies that the user has picked up on his internet browsing. Not a one of them are viruses. This should relieve that state of panic that they try to instill in you at this point.
The last thing to notice before the link to this “upgrade” is clicked is that they are asking for money. No program that is part of the Windows Operating Systems will ever, EVER ask for money to upgrade. It really is as simple as that.
Let’s say that you click the upgrade, another dead giveaway has been revealed. Instead of being linked to the Windows Update page, you are linked to another. It may take a little observation, since sometimes the linked pages are clones of the Windows Update page. The ultimate true way to tell is by the address box at the top of your browser screen. Dimes to donuts, it will not show the same address as the Windows Update page, which is: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/. Even better, you can set your Windows to be automatically updated. This way, if any program that claims to be from Windows says it needs updating, you know it’s wrong, because it would just do it without any effort on your part.
Lastly, you should have a powerful antivirus program installed on your computer. If you already have a good antivirus program, there will be no need to get another one. For the security of your system, get one before this happens to you. It will save you a lot of headaches.
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